Rough Country looks like a bargain. I had an add-a-leaf Rough Country lift on my old wrangler, which knocked my teeth out. Left a bad impression of the brand. That's more likely due to me cheaping on springs.

My local guy pushes them as being best kit for the money, but where am I going to regret it?

molawnboy

12-23-2010 08:47 AM

I got a 6" rough country spring lift on my 88 suburban. Rough Ride. But that is also what I plan on putting on my cj. Good equipment, good quality, very fair price, but the springs are stiff as hell!

LOL. I think I lost a good bit of the cartelidge in my spine from my Rough Country add-a-leaf lift on my YJ in college. Cheap, but effective then. I'm too old for that pounding now.

I'm still seeing mixed reviews on the YJ forum about RC. It's all over the board. Some say they sag, some don't, others say ride sucks, some think's it's better the RE. :confused: Sounds like a gamble.

CoryA

12-23-2010 02:09 PM

I have a 4" RC lift and as everyone says, rough as heck but it was cheap at the time

if i could do it again I'd go with a OME 2.5 personally

YJblitz3211

12-23-2010 02:16 PM

I have a 4in RC in my YJ. I will agree the ride is rough as hell, But for the price it was too good to pass up, got my for 550 with 1in shackles.

Money wise RC is great, if your looking for a smoother ride i's steer towards something else, not to savvy on lift kits this is my first wrangler, but everything i have heard about RC giving you a beating has been completely true

CALOcruiser

12-26-2010 05:58 AM

Sounds like a few hundred extra bucks now may avoid spring replacement due to sagging, or compressed discs if the springs don't soften up. thanks guys.

gojeepin

12-26-2010 08:29 AM

After reading all the opinions about Rough Country (RC) on the forum I was cautious about buying one of their kits.

Maybe their quality has changed or their coil spring kits are different... last summer I bought a RC long arm suspension to I install on my son's TJ. Their long arm 4" kit is very complete and rides smoother than stock and I couldn't find a better price.

CALOcruiser

12-26-2010 09:07 AM

That's good to hear about the TJ. I am still seeing a lot of negative feedback about the ride and life of their leaf springs. The price is unbeatable, but I don't think it's worth it if you can afford more.

I'm leaning towards BDS now. I see some good posts about them on the forum. I'm going to fish for some more.

bluwtrsurfr

12-26-2010 09:13 AM

I have a 4inch RC lift on my 81 CJ and I regret it. It really is the roughest ride I have ever had. I will admit it was cheap and at the time cheap was what I could afford. I have heard good things about Old Man Emu.

1971cj6man

07-08-2011 02:16 PM

well i just got done with installing a 4'' RC on my 84 cj7. I have owned Rubicon Express... hated them! way to soft! down right scary trying to drive home after a trip to serria trek but they did flex GREAT. then again a blown out yj leaf will do the same. Had Rancho springs not the best, they were older but just didnt seem to get the full life out of them! love Super Lift/ Pro Comp cant say enough nice stuff about them!!! now back to the Rough Countrys, they would be great for any spring over set up!!!! there cheap, got mine on sale for 400.00 out the door for a full kit! If you do a lot of freeway driving with some trail duty tossed in i say go for it! i think its nicer to have a firmer ride because when i hit a turn going 85 mph w/ a full load of cr@p in the back i dont enjoy soft springs.

if your +55 and get banged up easy, take a pry bar to your dang wallet and buy the super lifts!!!! lol

KrazyGimp

07-08-2011 03:14 PM

I did quite a bit of research when I bought mine. From what I can tell the YJ packs are way better than the ones they sell for the CJ lifts. I was really disappointed when mine arrived. No friction pads between the leafs and the wrap around style instead of bolt on spring clamps. The rear set was nothing more than a stock length main eye arched too far. This made the main eye to eye distance too short and the shackle was vertical on one side and a couple degrees the wrong direction on the other. I fixed it by swapping longer main leaf from an old lift.

The springs are overly stiff for my CJ-5, not sure if the extra weight of the 7 might help. The shocks that come with the kits are crap in my opinion. They seem valved for a 1 ton truck not a Jeep. New shocks and grease-able shackles will help smooth the ride out, but starting with good springs is always a good idea. The kits seem like a good deal but by the time you fix the issues and swap out cheap parts you might as well have purchased a BDS or similar.

Under $500, installed easily and rides much better than what I had previously (No idea what it was, may have been stock).

I had the cash for a lift twice as expensive, but it wouldn't fit into my ultimate timeline and budget for this jeep which has so many other things wrong with it that need money/attention I figured I could live with a rough ride if it meant fixing more stuff. I don't want to end up $15k into this jeep only to have it worth $6,000.